“You know the girl?”they inquired further.
“Yes, it is Lucia Ceprano; I have known her a long time.”
“Good! Will you marry her?”inquired the leader suddenly stepping up to the barber.
“Marry—Lucia Ceprano?” exclaimed Don Ernano quite taken a-back.
“Will you?” and a dozen large knives flashed into the air, while in an instant the men had closed the entrance into the shop, surrounded the terrified owner and driven him into a corner.
“Yes or no?” said they in suppressed tones.
Lugeno looked from one to the other and tried to collect himself. He saw plainly enough that it was no laughing matter, for the men were looking at him with an expression of deadly hatred in their eyes, and they looked so sullen and determined that he felt he had never before been so immediately face to face with death. He could hardly breathe, but he struggled to say, “Only tell me——”
“Still, man,”whispered the ringleader; “no shirking, and no unnecessary words. Answer me; will you marry Lucia Ceprano of Palenella, whose plait you have cut off, or not? Say you will, now, this instant, without any humbug, or in two minutes you are a dead man, as sure as we all stand here!”
A gleam of joy and relief came into Don Ernano’s eyes; he breathed more freely, and wiping his forehead, said with a smile, “Why, of course I will, my men, with all my heart, if she will have me.”
“She must!”was the rejoinder, spoken in tones of as much determination as before. “Then you swear, here before us, to marry Lucia, as soon as possible, at all events within the month, and you will be married in our church, by our priest?”